Starkid One-Shots
by Starkid-One-Shots
Summary: A place where Starkid fanfiction meets real life - break ups, hook ups, mistakes, regret, but mostly just love. A place where we can all fall in love with the Starkids. Rated M for language and possibly mature themes -Each chapter is a separate story, even if they're all connected - this will be in-progress for a long time :) Hope you like it!


I watch angrily as Lina waits the table, Darren Criss, in our restaurant, and of course I'm stuck on cleanup, not serving.

I scrub the table for the forty-thousandth time to hear what she's saying to him.

"You're great on Glee."

I role my eyes; it figures she doesn't know about Starkid.

"My name's Lina, by the way, spelled L-i-n-a, but pronounced Leeeeeena." She flashes him her bleached white smile.

"Yeah, I have a friend whose name is Lina. We're both into the same kind of music."

"What kind's that?"

"Wrock."

I smile at his answer. I know he means wrock, but she probably thinks he means rock.

Wrock…wizard rock…the most epic thing ever to find the light of day.

"In fact, she's in a wrock band."

I grin as I wipe off the booth seat. I know _exactly _who he's talking about, and I hum the tune to 'Post Potter Depression' under my breath.

"Oh, that's so cool." Lina flashes her white teeth again in what I'd call more of a menacing sneer than an attractive smile.

"Mm-hmm…" It's obvious that he's bored out of his mind.

I'm trying to come up with a way to possibly save him when I hear the jingle that means the door is opening.

"Hey guys!" Darren calls to the new guests, waving his arms emphatically over his head and mouthing the word 'help.'

"And then…after you dump this worst enemy of a fan…you will fall in love with a girl who knows nothing of you, and then you will happily grow old on a beachfront property in Malibu, on a private stretch of beach that all of us – the Starkids – own and which will be named 'Starkid Beach' after we buy it, and you will have three sons and.."

"Look, it's Darren!"

It is none other than Joe Walker, Brian Holden, and Devin Lytle, who, by the looks of things, has been attempting to tell Brian's future.

Brian looks almost as relieved to see Darren as Darren does to see him.

"Thank the dear dead wizard God." Brian mutters under his breath as he walks behind me, forcing me to stifle a giggle.

I don't know what the 'dead' is about, but the fact that he gets so engrossed in his characters that he's cursing like them is at once completely adorable and undeniably hilarious.

"Wait, who are these people?" Lina asks, eyeing Devin. "You're Darren Criss, for Christ's sake! Get some real friends!"

"Lina!" Our manager calls immediately from the back. Ears like a fox on that one. "That is not how we treat our customers! You are now on cleanup! And you're on probation!" We have very strict policies on customer treatment. "Reyna, take her spot as a server!"

"Yes sir!" I answer back without thinking. The majority of my mind is trying to figure out how Lina can possibly think that these people aren't worthy of Darren Criss. I don't understand it, but I know how it makes me feel.

"Lina, you moron! You fucking _imbecile!_ How stupid can you be?! These are some of the most amazing people in the world sitting in front of you! You're not worthy of shining their shoes, let along waiting their table! You have no idea what Starkid is, do you?! No?! Well, let me enlighten you! It's a place where nerds like me find happiness because of these amazing people sitting in front of you! Hoo! Ha! Nerdfighters! And you dare assume that these people are stupid?! You dare look at them and be disgusted?! Well, let me tell you, Lina, you disgust me. Now get to work."

"Well, you can just go and –"

"I said GET TO WORK!" I scream.

She, intelligently (for once), and understandably, flees.

"May I help you?!" I ask in the same voice I yelled at Lina in, making everyone jump.

Silence fills the table for thirty seconds until:

"Shiiiiiiiiit." Joe Walker hisses, making everyone, even me, laugh, even if my laugh is a little nervous. "Fiery, and a redhead too, if you'll believe it."

"Stereotypical me." I mutter just loud enough for Darren to hear.

I hear his low chuckle.

"Sorry about that. Lina's kinda – well, she's insane." I shake my head. "I'm Reyna, by the way. Reyna Phillips."

"Cool. How do you spell that? R-a-i-n-a?"

"Nah, R-e-y-n-a." I answer Brian's question with a smile. And not the we-serve-you-with-a-smile smile, but a real, I'm-glad-you-asked-because-you're-absolutely-awesome smile.

"This is all amazing and interesting, but I have to go to the little witch's room. Excuuuuse me!" Devin grins, shooing Joe out of his seat so that she can get back out of the booth.

"Wait, you're not going to pull a ditcher on me, are you?" Brian asks seriously, but his eyes are twinkling.

"No, of course not. Be right back." Her head whips to Joe. "And if you say or text me 'brb,' so help me dead wizard God, I will take that spoon right there, gouge out your eyes, and replace them with straws."

He smiles sheepishly and slowly puts away his phone which he already had out.

I can barely wait until she's gone to ask, "Are you guys going out?"

Brian opens his mouth, but it's Joe who answers first: "Yes, they sure are! They're in love, beautiful loooove."

Brian's face turns a light shade of pink, but he nods before turning to Joe. "I thought we weren't going to tell any of the fans if any of us date."

"I won't-" I start, but Joe ignores both of us.

"Just like we could be…in love, I mean. Why don't we head back to my place, where you can Hufflepuff on my want, before I Slytherin to you and you'll use your Ravenclaws on my back while I make you Gryffindor."

There's a twinkling in Joe's eyes that lets me know that he's joking, but everyone else at the table (meaning Brian and Darren) evidently don't notice that he's joking, judging by the slack-jawed looks they are giving him.

I don't miss a beat.

"Now, now, Walker! The lady can't let you hit on her like that. Tsk, tsk." And I turn around and start walking away.

"Aw, now, come back!" I can hear the pout in Joe's voice.

When I turn around, I can see Brian grinning at me appreciatively, and Darren smiling slightly at my act.

"I can't." I say, smirking, before turning away again.

"Can't? Tease!" He calls after me, using his Voldemort voice so that 'can't' sounds more like 'cunt.' The dirty bastard.

I sway my hips slightly more than usual as I feel his gaze on me.

Needless to say that his words make people look, but the grin on my face makes people look at me even weirder.

The truth is, I'm just going to place their orders, which somehow, somewhere in that conversation, had magically appeared on my piece of paper.

I give the paper to the chef and grab my co-worker, Anna's, arm, and hiss, "Holy shit, Joe freaking Walker is hitting on me!"

It's kinda weird because Anna's seventy-something with bright red hair, but she's actually really awesome, and even though she doesn't know shit about Starkid, when I point him out, she hurries me back out to the table and promises to cover my group of tables. Wizard God, I love Anna, I really, truly do.

I run back out. Well…not so much run, because that would make me look like an over eager fangirl (which, don't get me wrong, totally am.)

"So I decided that I can come talk to you if Joe promises to control himself." I inform them when I reach the table gain.

Darren chokes on his milkshake (I love him for ordering that), Brian almost sprays ginger ale out his nose, and Joe accidentally splashes his coke on the table.

"Good luck with that." Laughs Devin, who, evidently, has returned from the washroom.

"Hey, Reyna, when's your break?" Brian asks me suddenly while assisting Joe in mopping up the spilled coke with and abundance of napkins (A/N: Yes, that is a gentle reference to John's book, for any hardcore Nerdfighters out there. Yes, that is how much of a fangirl I am. )

"Why?" I ask, confused. I mean, it really is clear that he's going out with Devin…

"Come sit. Talk. Help!" He adds the last word a desperate plea in the battle against the coke.

I laugh and show him how to clean it up more efficiently with my cleaning supplies I was using earlier that Lina must have ignored to find her own.

"One second, guys. I gotta tell my manager that I'm taking my break now." I tell them, and walk back through the doors leading to the kitchen. I put away my cleaning supplies, and run back to where my boss is talking to a dishwasher about moving up to be a waitress. She's actually looking ecstatic…but then she _is_ currently on dishwashing duty, which, out of all the jobs at the restaurant, is the one that, frankly, sucks the most.

"You think about that, and keep up the good work," I hear my boss say as I walk into earshot.

"Thank you, sir." The girl beams before hurrying back to her station.

"Oh, hey, what's up, Reyna?" He asks, turning to face me.

"I'm taking my break now. Anna offered to cover for me, and if you desperately need me, I'm sitting at a table with three guys and a girl."

"Oh, okay." He grins, winking at me.

I resist the urge to blush.

"Have fun."

I salute at him and walk away to the sound of his laughter.

"Hey, I'm off. See, no apron." I spin around to show them before seating myself beside Joe so that I'm right across from Darren.

I automatically hum a few bars of 'Guys Like Potter' under my breath before realizing that I am with Starkid…you know, the writers, and shut up.

"Yuragudsingr." Darren mutters.

"What?" I ask, sure I heard wrong.

"Never mind." He looks down, blushing.

That's freaking adorable.

"So how's the new play?" I ask nonchalantly to break the awkward tension.

"You know about Starship?" Brian asks incredulously.

"I do now." I grin and wink at him as I take a sip of my Shirley Temple (yes, I drink Shirley Temples, and I grabbed it on my way out of the kitchen).

"Ha-ha, very good." He says sarcastically. "Actually, it's going great."

"What's it about?" I ask, turning to Darren.

"Well, it's about this bug you see. A bug named Bug, who wants to be a Starship Ranger, but, you see, he's…" Brian begins.

We spend the next ten minutes or so discussing Starship until our food shows up.

Anna puts a ceaser salad down in front of me with a wink.

I love Anna.

After that we joke and laugh and talk until our plates are empty. Including mine, and I'm a slow eater.

"That was magnificent, but I don't think that I could eat another bite."

I nod in agreement to Devin, who's leaning on the table with her hands propping up her chin, staring into space.

Joe's sipping his coke slowly, dazed, and zoned out.

Darren releases a big sigh and leans back against the back of the booth like Brian and I already are.

Suddenly, a loud, crappy noise fills the booth.

Do you like my use of the word crappy? Yeah, me too. I like to adjectify words, even if they aren't supposed to be adjectified. Like the word adjective. It's a part of me as much as my red hair or my ability to sing Starkid at any time.

Anyway, back to the crappy noise.

"_I'm a Barbie girl/In a Barbie world/Life's fantastic/Wrapped in plastic!"_

Everyone looks around the booth until Darren looks down at his pocket in horror. He pulls out his phone and the song gets marginally louder, confirming that it's his phone's ringtone.

Joe and Devin collapse into laughter on each other's shoulders, but Brian just pats Darren's arm sadly.

"I know. She keeps changing mine to 'Me and My Dick.' I'm just like, 'murder me,' every time that goes off in public.

Darren grimaces before answering his phone. "Hello?"

"Who?" I mouth at Brian.

"Lauren." He mouths back.

When I look back at Darren, his face is a lot more serious. "No, yes, yes, yes, no, do you really have to ask? No, ten minutes, no, Devin, Brian Holden, Joe, me…"

"And Reyna." Joe adds to the list, winking at me.

I aim a kick at him under the table, but I miss and hit the booth chair-bench-thing instead. Damn my bad aim.

"Yeah, we're on our way." Darren flips his phone shut.

"Who-" I start.

"That was Nick. He and Matt are freaking out. We need to go. Lines and puppet catastrophes. Run throughs. We have ten minutes." Darren runs his hands through his newly short hair.

"And…break!" Joe cries, ushering everyone out of the book.

I stand up awkwardly. "Well, this has been…unbelievable…but after an hour break' (yes my manager let me take an hour long break. It helps that we went to university together) 'and seeing as how you guys have to go now, I should probably get back to work.

"Why don't you come with us?" Asks Brian.

I stare at him for two minutes, trying to process the question, until Darren cries, "Wasting time, people!"

"Um…did you just invite me to a Starkid rehearsal?" I ask, still unsure.

"Yes." Brian chuckles.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" I nearly scream, making heads turn from the booths around us.

"Um…all good…talking about the…um…the Bachelorette." Joe tells the curious onlookers peering around at us.

They seem to accept this and turn around to go back to their food or conversations or whatever.

I, though usually easily embarrassed, can't care less.

"Yeah, come one, let's _go_!" Darren chuckles.

After them insisting on paying for my lunch (a feat that ends with Joe holding me back while Devin pays, something I both hate (they're paying for me) and love (um, Joe Walker is touching me) at the same time) we walk outside, the Starkids discussing my stubbornness, me walking in a hug. I don't know why, exactly, I just do. Or am. I _am_ in a huff.

"Come on." Dylan laughs at me.

I follow Darren as he veers right and walks up to a pink convertible. I don't know what kind of car it is because I can't tell a Honda from a Mercedes, only that it's _freaking amazing!_

"Um, Reyna?" Devin asks from behind me.

"Yeah?" I ask as I open the door and get in.

"Uh…whatever." She turns around and jogs to a hummer that she gets inside.

I ginger the hummer automatically. Once a nerdfighter, always a nerdfighter.

I glance over and raise my eyebrows at Darren in response to Devin, but he just shrugs and starts pulling out.

Five minutes later, I get out of the car.

"No, I wouldn't dye my hair. I'm against dying your hair to look like a spastic plastic."

Darren laughs, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

"And…" I start, but stop myself.

"And?" Darren raises an eyebrow at me.

"Nothing, it's stupid." I blush, looking down. "If I tell you you'll think I'm stupid and then I'll be embarrassed."

He laughs. "Did you know that you're quoting Starship directly? But anyway, what is it? I won't think you're stupid."

"Well…even though it keeps me from wearing pink, like we talked about before…"

He nods, and the way he's looking at me makes me blush even brighter.

"And…but…um…it makes me look like Ginny from Harry Potter kinda maybe I think." I burst out in one quick sentence.

He laughs, but not derisively, not derogatory like I expected. "Wanna know something? I hated cutting off my hair for Glee because I thought it made me look a little like Harry. Don't worry. You're among fellow nerds now." He walks into the building.

"Fellow nerds my ass, I'm among freaking _Starkids_." I mutter under my breath.

For a moment I just stand there looking at the door, pondering, debating. I know it's not safe or smart…but it's freaking Starkid! I'll hate myself forever if I don't go! And besides, I already rode in his car…this can't be any more dangerous than that…

And I make a decision that will change my life forever: I push open the door and walk through it to face my idols inside.

A blinding purple light meets my eyes as I walk through the entrance.

As my eyes adjust, I notice that the rest of my body is bathed in purple, too. And that the walls around me are, too. And…

"Joseph Walker, get the hell OUT of the lighting booth!" I hear someone, a man, shout, and all at once the light turns off and I'm left blinking the bright spots out of my eyes, unable to see a thing.

It takes a couple moments before my eyes adjust to the normal lighting, but when they do, I notice Joe sliding down a pole from what I assume to be the lighting booth. The pole looks more like a structural support than a means of getting to the floor, and for a moment I feel my breath catch, sure he will fall and kill himself.

Sure enough, though, his feet hit the ground and he summersaults into standing gracefully, all of two feet in front of me.

"Come to the stage." He smile and winks.

"You could have killed yourself!" I exclaim, my heart still pounding and my eyes still wide in absolute alarm.

"But I didn't." Is his only reply.

"Joe, when I told you to get down, I didn't mean like that!"

I look to the stage to see Nick Lang shouting at Joe, who's still only a foot in front of me, and Matt Lang and Brian Holden talking to Darren while directing people with props and scenery and such.

Darren is frowning.

"Uh-oh. Looks like there's trouble over there. Let's go see what we can do." I gesture towards them before starting to walk towards the stage,

Joe, miraculously, I'm beginning to feel, follows.

As we reach the stage, I'm pushed back by a man walking backwards down the stairs, making me fall backwards into Joe's waiting arms.

"Thanks." I blush as he sets me straight.

"No problem. Oi! Dylan!" Joe shouts.

"Yeah?" The man walking backwards turns around. "Oh! Sorry! Dear dead wizard God! I didn't see you! D'you mind letting us by, though? This is heavy! Props to Lauren." The man I recognize to be Dylan Saunders asks, balancing something on his shoulder.

"What?" Comes a girls voice I know to belong to Lauren Lopez, but I can't tell where it's from.

"Props for holding up this puppet. It's heavy!" Dylan yells back.

"That's what I've been telling you!" She calls back. I still can't figure out where she is.

This seems to constitute the end of a conversation, and so Dylan carried the puppet down the stairs with Brian Rosenthal carrying the other end.

"Uh, what's-" I start.

"Brian, what happened?" Joe asks my question for me.

"Bugette here," He gestures to the puppet he's holding, "She got speared by one of the mosquitos. Neato, I think, but I never can tell the difference. Anyway, it managed to stick a hold all the way through it. Nick says he'll fix it somehow because he is the master of making puppets, so we're taking it to his car for him." Brian explains.

"Oh, okay, then." Joe shrugs as if this is completely normal and motions for me to go back up the stairs.

I make it halfway up the stairs before I stop instantly.

"You okay?" Joe asks after running into me.

"I just realized something." I inform him.

"What?" He asks, frowning.

"You're Joe Walker."

Silence.

"And that's Joey Richter, and that's Brian Holden, and that's Meredith Stepien from Little White Lie, and – and – and…shit, and that's Darren Criss." I say my face probably full of unadulterated joy. "Dear dead wizard God." I copy their cursing, "Shit."

A moment of silence until Joe bursts out laughing. "Very good, Reyna, very good. Now come on – let's go see Nick and Matt and Brian and Darren." He pushes me gently so that I continue walking up onto the stage.

I laugh, too, though my reasons were probably a little difference, and comply, walking up behind Darren.

"Look, Darren, you can't just fall in love with a pretty girl and bring her with you." Nick is saying while Matt and Brian yell at some guy I don't recognize where to put a couple puppets.

"Okay, first of all, Brian invited her…"

"True." Brian admits, walking back to the conversation.

"And second of all, she can sing. I heard her." Darren insists.

"I can vouch for that." Devin says as she walks past, carrying bottles of water and handing them out to all of her friends.

I blush a deep puce; they only heard me hum a couple bars from one of their songs.

"The girls need a general understudy anyways. Make her sing now." Darren suggests.

"Reyna? Is that your name?"

I nod at Matt uncomprehendingly.

"Can you sing for us, please?" He asks me nicely.

I immediately go into my performer personality. "Do I have music" I ask, forgetting that THIS IS STARKID.

"AJ?" Nick asks.

In response I hear a chord being played on the piano.

Without thinking, I order everyone off the stage except for Joey because I know he knows the song, and burst into Even Though.

"_Wait, don't go! _

_There's something_

_I need you to know."_

Joey grins performs the line. "_What is it?" _

"_Um, it's just..._

_Uh, it's..._

_Uh, um, shit._

_I don't know..."_

He can't stop smiling at the absurd use of his song. "_Whatever, bye, er, Reyna."_

I have to agree that it is kind of absurd to be a part of, but it's also a dream come true. "_Just wait, give me a minute_

_My head's confused but_

_I know there's something in it_

_Won't you stay? Please stay_

_Until I get it clear."_

"_What are you trying to say?"_

"_What I'm trying to say is, _

_I'd feel much better if you would stay here_

_Even though I was blind before_

_I've realized there is so much more_

_And it was always deep down in the core of me_

_I know it now_

_And even though it seems too much to take_

_There's a feeling I can't seem to shake_

_I feel like, I am reading the signs_

_'Cause I know that I'm_

_Coming around..._

_I thought I wanted someone_

_Perfect as could be_

_When what I needed was_

_The one, who was perfect for me..._

_Even though it used to seem so wrong_

_I've taken you for granted far too long_

_I'm falling right into the denouement_

_And now I'm breaking ground."_

He joins in and I pull up into the harmony. _"Even though I felt it from the start_

_It's only now we're beating with one heart_

_I'm sure that, now is time_

_'Cause I know that I'm..._

_I'm coming around!"_

We didn't kiss or anything…we just stood there and sung…but it was absolutely surreal. I was singing with Joey Richter.

I stand there, still trying to believe it.

Cheers and whistles greet the end of the performance.

"Good job." Nick smiles at the end of my performance. "Will you come be our general female understudy for Starship?" He asks.

"Derrrr…." Is the only sound able to escape from my mouth?

Matt laughs. "So we can take that as a yes?"

"Derrr…." I nod.

He laughs again. "Lauren, can you grab Reyna a script?"

"What's the magic word, Matt?" She asks sarcastically, already moving towards a side table from where she was sitting in the audience.

"Please." Sighs Matt.

"On it." A mousy brunette who can only be Lauren Lopez saunters up to me and hands me a script.

I flip through it wordlessly, amazed…until my eyes land on two words: "Tootsie Noodles? What the hell kind of a name is that?" I ask, extremely confused, looking at Matt, Nick, and Brian, who I know usually write the scripts.

Lauren (freaking Lopez!) laughs. "And…officially stealing that." She says before adopting a Spanish accent. "What da hell kinda name is dat?"

We all laugh.

"So, now we need to run li-"

Before he even finishes the word 'lines,' the cast cuts off Nick with their groaning and complaining.

"Nick, we already know all of our lines!" Protests Meredith.

"Yeah! We've run through them a million times." Joey says, making the 'a million times' slowly emphasized.

Everyone chuckles, but I don't get it until Nicholas Joseph Strauss-Mathias (you know, the guy who played Sirius) says, "You gotta stop quoting your characters, Joey."

"Hey, I'm not as bad as Brian!" Joey exclaims, gesturing at Brian Holden.

"No. No you're not." Brian admits with a grin.

Matt clears his throat, bringing the attention back to him. "Well, if you all know your lines so well, everyone gets up on the stage and try out some blocking. Just improvise. This way our new cast member can get a feel for the show. No French scenes for today…just the show." He smiles at me, acknowledging my newness.

"Yeah!" Joe pumps his fist into the air, making everyone laugh.

"Okay, places! If your puppets are made, you can use them if you want, except for Bugette. Reyna, you can go sit down in a seat. Joey, the Bug puppet is _behind_ the cardboard bug cut-outs!" Nick says, grinning and directing everyone, in his element. This is what he was meant to do, as much as I love his acting.

I make my way into the seats of the theatre. I don't know how they managed to get the theatre for their rehearsals, but they did, and here we are.

A few moments later, Darren comes and sits down next to me.

"What're you doing?" Staring into his eyes, I notice how very brown they are. I pull myself back into the real world and finish my question. "I mean, aren't you going to perform this lovely little musical for me?"

Laughing, Darren shakes his head. "No, I'm not in this one. I'm too busy with Glee. Well…I wrote all of the music, so I guess I'm kinda in it, but yeah, Glee's got me pretty busy."

"Stupid Glee." I pout.

"Yeah, that's another thing: when will my fangirls – God, it's still weird to be able to say – stop being so protective of me?" He wonders aloud.

"Never." I say as the lights turn off and the stage lights come one without transition. They're just simple bright lights – lighting cues (and special lighting and spotlights) will come later. "We had you first."

"You count yourself among them?" He asks, looking surprised.

I look into his beautiful brown eyes. "Always."

"Silly girl." He whisper-laughs, putting his arm around me and giving me an awkward, one-armed hug like it's totally a normal thing.

It takes me until about half way through the first song to remember to breathe.

And his arm doesn't move from around my shoulders until after the last note has been sung, and the lights have all been turned back on.

"That was great!" I exclaim as everyone steps off of the stage and starts walking towards where we're sitting.

"Yes, it was." Nick agrees, smiling and looking more relaxed than I've seen him here yet.

"You were wonderful, Nick." Devin tells him, grinning and winking at us.

I laugh.

"It was good – especially for a crappy run through." Adds Matt as he runs his hands through his hair.

"It really was spectacular." I tell them as Darren withdraws his arm from around me and stands up. I follow suit. "I can't wait to get started on it."

"Yeah, but anyway, that was really good. I think that we can leave it there for today." The end of Matt's sentence is cut off by the jubilant sounds of the cast – except for me; I really want to get started.

"Okay, let's head back to our place. Bring Reyna. We can eat and discuss Reyna coming to live with us."

My brain freezes.

"Eat? It's not Lauren's turn to cook, is it?"

"Ha ha." Lauren elbows him in the ribs. "No, it's Arielle's turn tonight."

"Good." Joe sighs, making Lauren elbow him again.

We make our way out to the cars, joking and laughing, and (well, mostly just me) in a daze.

Again, I finger the hummer and we all split up to find our respective cars.

As I close the door to Darren's pink convertible, I can't help but let out a sigh.

"What's up?" Darren asks, sounding concerned.

"Best. Day. Ever." I tell him, a huge grin on my face.

"I'm sure that you'll have better." Darren laughs at my absolute contentment.

"Do I get to keep hanging out with you guys?" I ask.

"If you want to…" He shrugs as he pulls out of the parking lot.

"Then yes." I agree as I fall back into my seat and allow the wind to whip through my hair as we race down the freeway.

"Always."

As we pull into the driveway, my jaw drops. In front of me is an at least seven story house. It's huge. It's not a castle, but it certainly _is_ a mansion.

Darren laughs as he pulls in. "Like it?"

"It's amazing."

I don't take my eyes off of the building until I try to get out of the car and bang my shin on the bottom of the door.

"Shit!" I swear loudly.

Darren just stands there and laughs, so I glare at him.

Suddenly, Lauren saunters up lazily with Jaime bouncing beside her.

"Hiya! I'm Jaime." Jaime grins.

I laugh. "I know. You're amazing."

She laughs.

My eye is caught by the end of an exchange between Lauren and Darren. She raises her eyebrows and he nods.

She seems taken aback.

I want to ask, but it seems kinda private, so I let it be for now.

"Hey, Jaime, let`s give Reyna the grand tour." Lauren says, her eyes, I note, still locked onto Darren's.

He meets her gaze and quickly flicks his eyes in my direction.

She immediately turns to me. "Come on." She smiles, and it appears to be a genuine smile, which relieves me.

As we walk into the 'house,' I can't help asking Lauren. "So what was that about?"

"Oh, you, uh, caught that, huh?" She gives a slightly nervous smirk. "Um, well, to be honest, I'm not sure I can tell you. It's not really for me to tell." She shrugs. "It's nothing to worry about." She must see the look on my face because she adds, "It really isn't. He just surprised me is all."

"Darren has a habit of doing that." Jaime agrees as we ascend the stairs. "But it's never been dangerous."

I smile, legitimately reassured, and follow them for my first look around what I will learn to call Starkid Manor.

I discover that there are thirty-seven bedrooms, nineteen bathrooms _other_ than all the on-suites because every bedroom has one, seven different staircases, three offices, two kitchens, a dining room, and numerous living rooms. There's also a plain basement which could be renovated into whatever they want or need.

I take all this in in silence, too amazed to really do anything.

When we finish the tour, we head into the main living room.

"Hi!" Joe exclaims, coming over to me and swinging his arm up around my shoulders.

"Hi, Joe." I laugh.

"I'mma go check on dinner." Arielle Goldman says quickly, rising from her spot on the couch.

"I'll come help." Devin stands up quickly from her spot on the floor and follows Arielle out of the room.

"Mother hens, the both of them." Joey Richter says, rolling his eyes.

Oh my fucking wizard God, I'm in the same room as Joey Richter…in real life. Derrr...

"So, I checked the percents and crap." Nick says over the sound of Jeopardy on the TV. "And I think it should come to about three hundred twenty six dollars and, uh, one cent." He says, drawing numbers in the air as he works through the math. "That should buy your share of the house if you wanna live here."

"That little?" I ask, unconvinced of his math.

"There are a lot of us, and my cousin is the owner of the place that built this house. He gave us a monumental discount. Thank the dead wizard God." Nick explains.

"Um…alright, I'll get that to you a-sap." I smile.

"And I vote the money to go to Brian." He says, looking at Brian Holden. "Because his and Devin's anniversary is coming up, and he's gotta do something fir it."

"Seconded." Says Lauren, standing up.

"Motion passed." Dylan smiles his crooked smile.

Looking slightly annoyed, Brian rolls his eyes. "Anniversaries are a waste of time money."

There are loud protestations from most of the girls.

"Agreed. I always tell my boyfriend's not to buy me some stupid diamond. Do something creative and from the heard or don't do anything at all."

My statement is met with silence. The girls are looking at me like I've grown another head, and the boys are looking at me like I've become sand all of a sudden.

"At exactly the same time, Joe and Lauren say, "I've never heard that…view…before." Before sticking their tongues out at each other.

I laugh, and we go back to watching Jeopardy, happily making fun of the contestants' stupidity until dinner.

When Darren drives me home that night, I'm happier than I think I ever have been. When he asks me why I'm so happy, I reply, "I'm moving in with my heroes, sitting in a car with Darren freaking Criss, and…today was just a good day."

"Like I said earlier: I'm sure you'll have better." Is his answer.

I put my head back and let the wind simply flow over me.

"And like I said earlier:

"Always."

It's precisely one week later, my hallway is littered with boxes, my resignation from work completed with a wish of luck from my employer, and I am completely ready to move into Starkid Manor.

And they are half an hour late.

I gave them my address and when to pick me up when we were at the manor, but we hadn't exchanged phone numbers or anything, so I have no way of contacting them.

What if they weren't serious? What if they don't want me to live with them? What if they don't come? What if-"

The doorbell rings.

I race around the corner, but it's Lina that gets there first.

Oh, have I mentioned I'm rooming with Lina? Yeah….fun times (no).

"Oh, hello." I hear Lina say flirtatiously.

"Um…is this where Reyna Phillips lives?" Comes the somewhat nervous voice of Joe Walker.

"What do you want with her? You'd be much better off-"

"Joe!" I exclaim, rushing around the corner and interrupting Lina's suggestive statement.

Throwing my arms around Joe's neck, I shoot Lina a dirty look and allow him to pick me up and spin me in a circle.

"Come on, most of the boxes are in my room." I smile at him.

"Okay." He smiles back. "Come on guys."

He's gonna make an awesome friend.

I lead Joe and whoever's with him to my room.

I turn around to see Joe entering my bare room, followed by Brian Holden, Dylan Saunders, Joey Richter, and Darren Criss walking into my bedroom (I know, every fangirl's dream).

Actually, they're all wearing tank tops, (except for Darren, who's wearing a t-shirt) and they're all kind of ripped.

How to put this delicately… I. Am. Fangirling. Derrr…

On the outside, though, I just smile. "Hey guys."

"Hi Reyna." Joey smiles. "I don't believe we've really met, you know, other than the song thing. I'm –"

"I don't believe introductions are in order." I assure him and laugh. "I know who you are. Hey, thanks guys." I say, hugging each of them in turn.

"For what?" Asks Darren as I weave my arms around his neck.

Withdrawing my arms, I blink away tears that are suddenly threatening to overflow from my eyes. "For everything. For helping me move, for taking me in, letting me _live_ with you, giving me a job…just… just…everything."

There's a moment's pause before Joey goes. "Aw!"

I let out a watery chuckle and they swarm me for a massive group hug.

I laugh again. "Okay, off to work."

They release me smiling, and Joe whistles, "Hiegh ho, heigh ho, it's off to work we go!"

We all laugh.

"Oh, and just so everyone knows, Lina thinks I'm dating Darren and cheating on him with Joe." I tell them.

"Why?" Dylan voices the question in everyone's head.

Joe, who seems to have grasped something I don't understand, is roaring with laughter while Joe is smirking at him and Darren is glaring at them both.

I don't understand these people.

I don't understand them, but I still love them.

"Well, I figured that Darren would piss her off because he's all famous now…"

He rolls his eyes.

"And Joe because she saw him – you – shirtless and thought you were hot." I tilt my head as if taking him in. "I don't see it."

He sticks his tongue out at me. "When did she see me shirtless?" He asks, stacking some boxes.

"Um…Voldemort?" I remind him.

"Oh, right!" He grins. "I am pretty hot, aren't I?"

"Get over yourself." Brian and I say in unison.

I spend the next six or so hours directing boxes and people. About halfway through, JoMo (who I have found out is called JoMo so that the three Josephs know who is being spoken to – we have Joey, Joe, and JoMo.) and Lauren show up to help.

Finally, we`re getting rid of the last couple stacks.

"Hey, careful with that! That's my life!" I warn JoMo as he almost drops a box labeled 'DISHES.'

Yeah, I label all my boxes. Deal with it.

"Yeah, JoMo, you don't want to do something with her life like, say, this." Joe throws his box up into the air, spins it, and catches it, the 'this-end-up' arrow _clearly_ pointing down.

The label on the side reads 'CLOTHING.'

I'm speechless for a moment, but then I find my voice. "What the _hell_ were you thinking?!" I shout.

"I saw the label." He answers.

"What if it had been mislabelled?" I'm still shouting.

"I looked inside." Joe's face breaks out into a mischievous grin. "See, just as smart as I look."

"Well…you're smarter than you look, but that's not that difficult." Lauren says, at once insulting his looks and brain.

I make a note to use this tactic in the future.

"Ha, ha" Joe makes a face at her. He tosses the box up again, spinning it, before placing back down on the ground.

On the bottom, I notice as it spins by, it reads 'UNDERWEAR' in bold lettering.

And Joe said he had looked inside.

I would be absolutely mortified, except that the idea of Joe freaking Walker holding a box of my underwear is just so absolutely absurd that my brain can't even process it.

Finally, one more stack of boxes has been removed from my room and I'm left staring at one last box.

I look around the room, empty for the first time in years – since I moved in, probably.

"Do you want to do the honours?" Joey asks, not unkindly, gesturing at the box.

A torrent of emotions flood over me. "No, you take it."

I pick it up and shove it into his hands, biting my lip to keep from crying.

"No, you take it. It's the last one."

I shake my head and push it away from me again.

Everyone stands there for a moment, not sure what to do.

I'm almost shaking from the effort it's taking me not to collapse. "Well? Let's go, nothing left here. Actually, I'm just gonna double check, but I'll meet you down stairs." I tell them, faking a smile.

They hesitate, something in my expression clearly worrying them, but in the end they all clear out, leaving me alone at last.

The exact second that Brain closes the door behind them, I collapse into sobs.

Why am I feeling this way? This place was awful to me! I had to live with _Lina_ here. I had a boyfriend and, evidently, a break up here. I finished college here. I finally fully grew up here…or as much as I'm ever going to.

I guess in the end, this place _was _a home to me, and now I'm leaving it, and it kinda feels wrong.

And then Darren's there.

I put my head into his shoulder and allow the fabric of his black t-shirt to absorb the swift rivers of tears flowing down my cheeks.

He just puts an arm around my heaving shoulders and holds me, whispering, "It's okay, it's okay. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

I nod through my incoherent babbling, and hug him back, his promise of not leaving somehow making me feel better.

"Aw." He pulls me closer.

I don't know how long we stay like that, me still crying, but eventually he picks me up like lifeguards do in movies, one arm around my shoulders, and one arm under my knees. He carries me through the house, giving me just enough time to wave goodbye to Lina, out the doors and down the steps toward the parking lot.

I'm not sure exactly when, but at some point, with my head against his chest and a few tears trickling out of my eyes, the rocking motion of his walking puts me into a deep, blissful sleep in a perfect, sweet moment of innocence.

It's a moment I will always remember.

Always.

There is a feeling you get when you're somewhere new, sometimes. A feeling like you shouldn't be there.

This feeling overtakes me as my eyes fly open and I bolt into an upright, sitting position.

I'm lying in a bed that is not my bed in a room that is not my room, with dark walls and glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling.

There is a clock on the dresser that reads 8:30, but I have no way of knowing if that's am or pm, and I don't care. If someone's asleep at 8:30 in the evening, they'll be tired enough that I can't possibly wake them. If they're asleep at 8:30 in the morning, poor muffins. They can go back to sleep.

I tip toe across the room in the hope that I won't step on anything and flick on the lights. I needn't have been so careful – the room is unnaturally clean.

The walls are deep blue with glow-in-the-dark stars that are no longer glowing on the roof so that it looks like the night sky. The bed is simple: a double bed with a cream duvet. Simple and majestic.

I walk over to the closet and realize that I don't have any clothes. I'm still wearing my clothes from yesterday, a fact that reassures me because I'd rather someone else not change me, thank you very much.

I notice a pair of sweatpants and a pink t-shirt folded in a little open shelf.

Figuring 'what the hell? I'm probably in the Manor so let's wear pink since I have no idea what's going on,' I throw on the sweats and t-shirt, revelling for a moment in how good it smells – better than Hollister clothes.

After folding up my old clothes and placing them on the bed (unsure where else to leave them), I leave the room, closing the door quietly behind me. The light is on in the hallway, but that still doesn't keep me from almost falling down the stairs.

I can't remember the way to the main living room from the 'grand tour,' as they so charmingly put it, so when I reach the bottom of the steps, I simply follow the sounds of voices through the house. It takes me a few tries, but I eventually make it down a couple more floors to the first and into the living room.

"Hello." I yawn.

"Good morning, sleepy head." Joe laughs, standing up and ruffling my hair.

"That shirt goes _horribly_ with your hair." I girl I don't know except as February in Starship, smiles at me warmly, like a friend. "Hi, I'm Denise. Denise Donovan."

"Cool." I grin back. "I'm Reyna Phillips.

"So I've heard." The blonde winks at me.

I'm about to ask what she means when I hear a cough behind me.

"Reyna, can I talk to you for a minute?" Lauren asks, appearing in the doorway.

"Yeah, sure." I answer. "See you soon!" I call back as I stroll out.

"Darren! Reyna's up! Wanna make breakfast?" Lauren yells down the hall.

"On it!" Is his answering cry.

"Darren's making breakfast?" I ask, surprised.

"Always does. He loves it. Favourite meal of the day." Lauren answers shortly, but smiles warmly, making me think she's probably under a lot of stress.

As she leads me down the hallway, I sneak a look into the kitchen. There stand Darren and Brian Rosenthal, cooking away. Darren is wearing an apron, of all things, which reads, 'Kiss the Cook' in bold lettering.

I stifle a giggle as I pull away from the door frame and follow Lauren further into the bowels of the Manor.

She leads me down the hallway into what I vaguely recognize to be the second living room that they showed me yesterday on my 'grand tour.'

"Have a seat." She says, closing the door behind us and locking it.

"Am I in trouble?" I ask, smirking.

She laughs. "Nah, I just have a couple questions that I'm not sure the others are going to 1. Like me asking you, but 2. I'm me so I'm going to ask them because 3. I'm curious and I want to know, but 4. You might not want these questions answered or asked in front of anyone else, so 5. I brought you here." She smiles, quite pleased with herself.

I frown, quite confused, as she places herself on the couch beside me.

"Okay, first order of business – where did you sleep last night?" She asks, grinning.

"Um…I don't know." I admit sheepishly.

She doesn't seem surprised. "Can you describe it?"

"Um…" My brain fills with the picture. "Navy walls, glow-in-the-dark stars, simple bed…"

When I look back at her, her eyes are wide. "That's Darren's room! I thought I heard someone downstairs last night! Darren's room, dead God…but that _would _explain why you're wearing his clothes."

"I'm…I'm _what?_"

She waves her hand in dismissal. "Don't worry about it. Interesting. Okay, second order of business, which resulted from the first order of business: do you, Reyna Phillips like Darren Criss, as in, to coin a middle term phrase, do you like him _in that way_?"

"No, of course not." I reply immediately. "I've only known him for, essentially, two days." I shake my head at the idiocy of that idea.

"Take a second to think about it." She insists. "Because I've seen the way you look at him. Maybe you just don't notice it, or maybe you just didn't realize it before."

I open my mouth to say, no, of course not, that's absurd. Because it is absurd. But an image of Darren sitting with me on my apartment floor, me crying my eyes out and him just letting me, that picture appears on the back of my eyelids and swims before my eyes.

Following this comes a flood of other images, some too quick for me to even remember what they were. Images of him laughing in a restaurant booth, blushing, fighting to keep me in Starship, his short hair flying everywhere as the wind hits it because his convertible top is down, the feeling of his arms holding me up, and him in that ridiculous apron that I saw through the kitchen door. And the smell of him, that glorious smell. I could get high off of his smell, that's how good he smelled.

Holy shit.

Oh my God.

I like Darren.

I nod silently at Lauren.

She grimaces at me slightly, reading my expression. "You'll be fine. And now, because I'm me, I have to say this: I will not be asking him if he likes you for you. I won't tell him you like him, or you that he likes you if it turns out that he does, you guys are going to have to figure that shit out on your own. But I will say this: Darren is one of my best friends in the world, and if you hurt him, I will be forced to hurt you. A lot."

"I think you could." I admit, taking in her small frame.

She just nods. "Well, I hope we can get to the point where I will be making threats like that to boys who can like you."

A few moments of tense silence are broken by me smiling and her laughing.

"I'd like that." I tell her.

And we're halfway there.

"Hey, what was that about?" Asks Devin as Lauren and I walk back in.

I look at Lauren fearfully, but she doesn't miss a beat: "Trying to find Reyna's clothing. Didn't happen." She shrugs.

Devin opens her mouth as if to ask more questions.

"Reyna! Breakfast" Darren's voice calls from the kitchen.

"Coming!" I call back.

Saved by the bell. I almost run out of the room to get away from Devin and her many questions. Don't get me wrong, I like Devin, but I'm still trying to get over my recent epiphany, so lying isn't exactly the easiest thing for me right now.

I sprint across the hallway, wondering what it'll be like to see Darren now that I've realized I like him.

'Like.' That sounds so much like something that shouldn't have left the third grade, and yet…here I am.

The answer to the question of what it'll be like is that I get that beautiful falling feeling that you always get at the beginning, when you're just falling in love. The Norwegian word for it is 'forelsket,' it's a lexical gap in English. Other than that feeling, however, I can treat him like I always did.

"Oh. My. God. This is amazing." Eyes wide, I take in the giant stack of pancakes and whipped cream and strawberries and wizard God knows what else.

"Don't talk, just eat." Darren laughs.

I don't say another word the entire meal.

"Okay, that was…amazing." Is all I can say when I've cleaned my plate.

"You _energized_?" He asks, giggling. He's actually giggling. It's pretty freaking adorable.

"Yeah!" I punch my fist in the air like Joe does, making him laugh more.

"Good. Time to get you moved in."

We walk into the main living room to the sounds of Jeopardy playing on the TV and all the Starkids booing and hissing at the contestants in good nature.

"Hey guys." Darren waves.

"Hey, give us a sec." Is all Lauren answers with.

I crane my neck to see what she's doing, and I see she's sitting with Joe and Nick and someone else who I can't see because Joe is still too tall, crowded around what looks to be the Manor's blueprint.

"What about here?" Joe asks, pointing to the map.

"No, I don't want anyone there unless we have to, see?" Nick gestures to something else. I can't make sense of the schematic, it's all so confusing.

"Okay, I keep coming back to the third floor here." Lauren says, pointing.

"That's actually a good spot. Especially if…" Nick draws some more lines on the map with his fingers, making the others nod. "Well, that settles it."

"Okay!" Lauren stands up, clapping her hands together. I didn't know people did that in real life. "Boys we need you carrying boxes up, girls on decoration. Switch between as you wish. Go!" She calls.

"Yes ma'am!" Darren says sarcastically, earning a swipe at his head.

Lauren then leads us to the _third_ living room where all my boxes are stacked.

Everyone grabs a box or two and we follow Joey up the stairs to our room, no one seeing where we`re going, simply following the person directly ahead of them.

When we get there, we put down our boxes and look around. It's a good size room, with my bed frame already moved in. I silently thanked the dead wizard God that I didn't have to carry that up three flights of stairs.

Devin and Arielle, who were carrying my mattress, immediately drop it on my bed.

"Thank God." Is all they have to say before collapsing down onto my new bed.

What little furniture I have comes in first. That consists of a dresser, a bed side table, and a bookshelf. Well…I actually have three bookshelves, but…yeah.

The rest of the day is spent unpacking all of my things. I'm directing everyone. The most embarrassing moment of the day is tied between when Darren chooses to unpack my box of underwear, not realizing that that's what's in there (bras, panties, lingerie, thongs, and, um…yeah…), and when we're looking through a box and it turns out that I didn't throw away my little home-printed picture of Starkid. Brian saves the moment by taping it on my wall and then posting a picture of me right beside it.

I smile at him. "Thanks, Rosenthal."

"No problem, Phillips."

However, even Brian can't save me when, moments later, Lauren pulls out of that same box a giant poster from some magazine or other of Darren, and the girls, all giggling hysterically, decide to have Jim sticky-tack it up onto the ceiling _directly above my bed_ so that every morning when I wake up, I will be greeted with his face. Gah! My face was at _least_ as red as my hair. To be fair, though, his was, too.

In the end, my room looks amazing, and, you know, just as a little bonus, _I get to live with Starkid_.

"This looks awesome." Says Darren, looking around.

He and I are still decorating but we sent everyone else downstairs to get ready for dinner.

"Well, it looks wonderful…except for that damn poster." I say, trying to suppress a grin and failing miserably.

He shoots a glare and me, and I laugh.

"Come on." He says, rolling his eyes. "Nice shirt, by the way."

"Oh, thanks, I just got it." I say, grinning as I lead him out.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me – Lauren!" Sighing, Darren points at the door to the right of mine, obviously trying to convey some hidden message.

"What?" I ask, still not getting it.

In response he simply opens up the door.

Now I get it.

The room to my right is painted in navy blue and glow-in-the-dark stars are stuck everywhere on the walls and ceiling; Darren's room.

My room is right next to Darren's room. Gah…Lauren!

"Come on, let's go eat dinner. We can give Lauren hell for this tomorrow." I say, rolling my eyes and grinning.

"Um…" He hesitates at the top of the stairs.

"What?" I ask, concerned.

"Well, you see, I'm actually leaving tomorrow." He tells me, biting his lip.

Damn that's hot!

"What?!" I exclaim, trying not to sound too disappointed and failing miserably.

"Yeah, I have to go film for Glee."

"Stupid Glee." I mutter, pouting.

"Hey, we have the rest of tonight to have fun. Let's go do that." Smiling, Darren offers me his arm like a true gentleman.

"Yes, let's." taking his arm, I get a renewed sense of falling, of forelsket, and as we head down to dinner, my feet don't touch the floor once; I'm walking on air.

"How long are you going to be gone again?" I ask as we stand at the airport.

"Until the filming night of Starship." Darren answers before taking a huge gulp of coffee out of his Starbucks cup,

I bite my lip. "That's a long time." It sounds stupid, but that's all I can say. I'm just trying not to burst into tears.

I can't believe he's going to be gone for five months. And he's leaving the day after I realize that I love him, too. I can't catch a break!

"Okay, bye, Darren." Lauren says, coming from behind me.

She gives him a quick hug.

Everyone else fallows suite, filling the air with the heaviness goodbyes always seem to bring and each giving their boy a hug.

Well, the girl hug him, and most of the boys give him that hand shake/one armed hug things guys tend to do, I don't pretend to understand it. All of the boys do that except for Joey. For a moment they stand there looking at each other, and then they burst into a huge hug. It's adorable.

It's adorable and it makes my heart ache and makes me remember that I'm not the only one who's going to miss him.

And yet he still leaves with the rest when Lauren says, "Come on, guys, let's go make sure Darren's luggage is in order."

They all follow her towards the booth, around the corner, and away from us, Joey sneaking one last look back at Darren and offering a sad smile.

"Five months…" I say, unconsciously playing with the chain around my wrist, thinking about how these months would be hard for all of us.

"What's that?" Darren asks.

"What's what?"

"That." He points towards my bracelet.

"Oh, um, it…" I hesitate, the lie I usually tell o the tip of my tongue, but in the end I tell him the truth…because he's Darren. "It was my mother's. She um, she died when I was sixteen. She got in a car crash with a drunk driver. He walked away. My mum's friend who was with her in the car…she's in a wheelchair now. My mum was killed instantly. And, um, she was…" I swallow back the tears and look up into Darren's eyes before glancing back down. "She was on her way to my sixteenth birthday party. She used to say that his was good luck, rarely took it off, but she wasn't wearing it that night."

Silence greets the end of my story, and I refuse to break it, not sure if my voice will hold.

"Wow, Reyna." He breathes.

"Now boarding flight 7-9-3-6-0 to Los Angeles." The voice in the intercom reminds e that we're not the only people in the universe.

"Oh, shit, that's me." Darren groans.

Running to close the distance between us, I throw my arms around his neck, pulling him close. "Goodbye, Darren." I say, burying my face in his neck.

"Goodbye, Reyna." He answers, hugging me back, his arms tight around my waist. "I'll see you soon."

I nod into his neck, barely holding back tears.

And then he pulls me away, leaving me with nothing.

With a sad little half-smile, he turns around and walks to the security gate where a security guard hurries him off to the front of the line.

I rub the spot where my mother's bracelet should be and look down. Darren's pink sunglasses are in my hand, and I didn't even notice him putting them there.

I watch him until he's well out of sight and then quickly put on the sunglasses and turn around to find the others.

The wonderful thing about these glasses is that they hide the tears flowing from my eyes.

_Darren's POV_

_I walk up to the counter, put my laptop and bag on it, take off my shoes, and then walk through the metal detector,_

_I'm immediately surprised and annoyed to hear it go off._

"_Excuse me, son, we're going to have to scan you." Says a kindly looking old woman in an airport security uniform._

"_Okay, but I hope we can make it quick, my plane's boarding." I tell her. It's hard to be bitter around kind old ladies._

"_Of course, son." She waves the magical metal-detecting stick over my body._

_Beep…beep…beep…beepbeepbeepbeeep! It goes off as she waves it over my hand._

_Completely confused, I look down at it and open it from the clenched fist it has apparently become._

_There, in the palm of my hand, lies Reyna's bracelet, her mother's bracelet._

_My eyes grow wide and I look back to where I left her. She's walking away now, but I can see that she has my sunglasses on, something that makes me smile._

_I look back at the old woman._

"_Is that a present from your girlfriend?" She asks with a knowing smile._

"_Yes and no." I answer after a moment of trying to figure out proper answer to that question._

_She smiles up at me sadly and pats my arm as if she understands exactly what's running through my mind. "Well, I guess you'd better be off. You have a plane to catch."_

"_Thank you."_

"_Don't thank me. You can thank me by getting to Glee and kissing that Colfer boy and making my grandkids happy." She winks._

_I laugh and head to the end of the table to put on my shoes and grab my bag and laptop. When I turn back to wave at the woman, she's no longer there._

_I never find out if she's real. I mean, she has to be, right? Or maybe not. Maybe she was an angel…maybe it was just time for her break. But I know that somehow, in some way, without me even realizing it, she has touched my relationship with Reyna and made me realize exactly how much I care about her._

_I walk up to my gate and up to the top step. Before stepping onto the plane, I take a look around. Everyone else is already on, so it's not a problem._

_Finally, I turn and face the airplane door. I set my shoulders and clasp the bracelet around my wrist._

"_I love you, Reyna Phillips."_

_I step up onto the plane._

Reyna's POV

The next few months fly by. My life basically consists of the Manor and rehearsal

At rehearsal, there are lines to learn, songs to sing, and blocking to be blocked. (Is that an adjective? Who am I kidding, I don't care.)The great thing about rehearsal is that I can see them – I guess, us, now – adding jokes and organizing things. The first time I hear Joe's G.L.E.E joke, I'm quite literally rofld (rolling on floor like Draco) I'm laughing so hard. But then, so is everyone else.

Lauren keeps my "What da hell kinda name is dat?" line the entire way through.

At the Manor, we're still spending time learning lines, but then there are chores like laundry to be done, meals to be made, TV shows to be watched, and friends to get closer to.

All in all, my life is pretty epic-awesome.

And so comes opening night. And with that, of course, the flu hits.

First night, opening night, I'm on stage as Megagirl, which is at once an unbelievably exciting experience, and the scariest thing I've ever done. Thank the dear dead Wizard God they didn't boo me off the stage.

The next few days I'm playing Megagirl, but then on Friday's show, Meredith comes back in and I take over as Bugette because Lauren can't do the voice because of her cold.

Saturday is filming day, and because of this, and the fact that Darren's going to be there, and because Lauren overdosed to the extreme on ColdFX and managed not to die, we decided that we would use the original cast for the show, despite the many flu victims.

So it's Saturday, and I'm lying on my bed, looking up at the poster of Darren that I never did manage to take down.

Despite how much I've been doing to keep myself busy – and I've been succeeding, let me tell you – I've missed him. A lot.

So do the others, I can feel it. That's why everyone seems so happy as of the last few days – Darren's coming home.

In a big group, we all would crowd around the computer screen or the TV and we would watch or read anything, any interviews that Darren did. He was wearing my bracelet in every single one. That never failed to make me smile. And I've been wearing his sunglasses every single day, just a little piece of him to cling on to.

A knock on my bedroom door interrupts my thoughts.

I spring up and jump up and down on my bed as if trying to get the poster off my roof. "Come in!" I call loudly.

Lauren opens the door and stares up at me suspiciously. "What're you doing?"

"I'm trying to get this god damned poster off of my roof." I say as I launch myself upwards, my fingertips _almost_ touching the ceiling.

"I thought you gave up on that?" She says, more of a question than the grammatical statement it _should _be on paper.

`Well, you know, I still try every once in a while." I answer lamely. "I guess some part of me is still hoping I'll magically grow another couple inches." I'm not short, in fact, I'm quite tall, but fact is, I'm not Jim Povolo tall.

She disregards the whole conversation after a moment's contemplation with a flick of her hand. "So…we're leaving to pick up Darren now. Want to come?" She asks.

"Um…no." I answer sarcastically.

She laughs. "That's what I thought. Meet us down by the front door in ten minutes."

"I'll be there." I say as she shuts the door behind her.

I quickly get changed into this little green dress that's one of the rare items that look better on me than on the mannequin or the hanger, and run out the door, flicking off the lights as I go. ( reyna_phillips_airport/set?id=42424447 )

I immediately run back in, realizing that I left Darren's sunglasses in there.

Releasing a long string of curse words, I search the room until I find them; put them on top of my head, and go to leave. Before I walk out the door, however, I turn back around and look up at Darren`s face on the ceiling. In a way, I'm afraid to see him again. It's been months – what if he's changed? What if he's different? What if something happened?

"Come on, Reyna!" Joe's voice calls up the stairs.

If I'm going, I go now.

With one last glance at the poster smile on that glossy surface, I flick the lights back off, flip down the sunglasses, and close the door behind me.

"Where is he? Do you see him? Oooh!" I'm standing on my toes, scanning the heads of the crowd for the head I know so well, all hesitancy forgotten.

"He'll be here." Jim laughs from beside me. He can see fine.

Suddenly, two hands slide over the lenses of my sunglasses. "Guess who." I can hear the smile in the familiar voice.

"Um…" Excitement runs through my veins, but I can't resist a little teasing. "Joe? Dylan? Jim? Someone else I've dated in the past five months? My _current_ boyfriend? Joey, is that you?"

He spins me around to look at me, complete shock written all over his face, utterly speechless.

My face breaks into a grin. "I'm kidding! I knew it was you! Oh, God, I've missed you!" I throw my arms around his neck.

He winds his arms around my waist and hugs me back, whispering, "You did?"

"Of course, you idiot, so did everyone else." I punch him playfully in the arm. "Come on, let's go get your bag."

"Oh, on sec. Erin?" He calls.

A blonde kinda girl with green eyes runs up to us in a blue t-shirt that says 'NERDFIGHTERS' in bold lettering. I immediately love her.

"Reyna, this is Erin. I was sitting beside her on the plane. She's gonna audition for us. She's an alumnus of the University of Michigan theatre and musical theatre programs.

This doesn't mean anything to me, but it's obviously cool.

"Hi." She puts out her hand, a huge smile on her face.

"Hi." I smile, taking it. I can't believe I found another nerdfighter. I glance back down at her shirt again as we step apart.

She laughs. "You must be wondering about the t-shirt. It's this kinda –"

I silence her with the nerdfighter salute. (Two Spock live-long-and-prosper hands held up on either side of your face with the mid forearms crossed) ( .ca/imgres?q=nerdfighter+sign&um=1&hl=en&rls= :en-ca:IE-Address&rlz=1I7ADRA_enCA454&biw=1362&bih=789&tbm=isch&tbnid=nFRrrJl3QpstFM:&imgrefurl= profiles/blogs/do-i-need-to-draw-you-a&docid=B46efkpcyOgaRM&imgurl= files/LcWSggZaiMDBZTwmumY-Ydl6gMpTFFNGejaflNRaSJ*XOLhGMsE450KaFTt4goo1a13YNYZ vlnw4jv3HNZD* %253Fwidth%253D500&w=500&h=375&ei=UlvnT6i1K8TB2QWnkL3eCg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=303&vpy=344&dur=471&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=112&ty=113&sig=116331720868837763747&page=3&tbnh=148&tbnw=198&start=56&ndsp=35&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:56,i:252 )

"DFTBA." I said. (Don't Forget to be Awesome)

"French the Llama!" She exclaims. (Don't ask, it's complicated)

I look back at Darren, who looks confused, and laugh. "Come on."

We, all three of us, walk down the hallway towards the baggage cart where everyone is waiting, apparently having snuck off when Darren got there.

"Still wearing my sunglasses, I see." He notes.

"Still wearing my bracelet?" I counter.

"Touché." He laughs.

Erin smiles appreciatively at our banter, but stays silent form beside Darren.

"I got some weird questions about it, let me tell you." He says, looking at the chain around his wrist.

"I bet. What was the worst one?"

HE grimaces. "You don't want to know. Like, you _really_ don't want to know. The most common one was 'Why are you wearing that bracelet?'"

"What did you answer?" Tilting my head to the side to catch a better look at him, I can see the smile shining in his brown eyes and my heart flutters.

It's so good to have him home.

"I just said that it was a good luck charm from a good friend back home." He smiles warmly at me, and I can't help but blush a little bit and smile to myself happily.

"Hey, there, they are!"Darren exclaims, pointing excitedly at all of our friends standing by the luggage cart.

Without further ado, he sprints ahead and plows straight into Joey, at which point they become a wrestling ball of blur.

Erin chuckles and follows to introduce herself to the group while I stand there, laughing to myself, just being glad to have him back.

"Oh my wizard God, Sally, look!" A little voice whispers from behind me.

"I see them!"

"Can I help you?" I ask, turning around.

Standing now in front of me are two thirteen-year-old or so girls. The brunette one steps forward and points over at my friends. "Over there is Darren Criss, known to us as Harry freaking Potter and most as Blaine on Glee. He is amazingly perfect and can sing better live. These people surrounding him are the other members of Starkid, the single most amazing theatre group in the world that he belongs to. Together –"

"Dear dead wizard God." I laugh.

"What?" Asks the brunette one, confused.

The blonde one, though, looks at me, eyes wide. "Lee, she said 'wizard God.' She knows." She breathed.

"Then what was the 'dead' then?" Asks the brunette.

"I've gotten used to it during Starship rehearsals." I answer, suppressing a grin.

"Eep." Is all that escapes the brunette's mouth.

"Hi, I'm Sally, and this is Amelia." The blonde one, Sally, tells me.

"Hi, I'm Reyna, and one second, if you don't mind." I answer before calling over my shoulder, "Yo, Lauren, get everyone over here!"

Lauren immediately saunters over, trailing everyone else except for Joe, who stays looking at the bag-conveyer-belt-thing.

"Guys, this is Sally and Amelia." I say as they get here. "I'm gonna go help Joe."

I run over to Joe, laughing, pointing at the brightest bag on the conveyer belt by far. "Joe, it's the bright pink one."

He groans. "Such lack of style."

I laugh as I pull it off the belt and we walk back over to where everyone is talking to Sally and Amelia. Just as I walk up behind Lauren, Darren passes the girls two tickets to Starship and hugs Amelia, who promptly faints.

Sally carries her friend away, thanking us with a big grin on her face.

"They. Are. Adorable." JoMo states as soon as they're out of earshot.

"Yeah…" Matt agrees with a smile. "Okay, guys, let's go. We have a show to get ready for."

The show goes fantastically. Darren quite literally kills himself (okay, not literally) laughing at Joe's G.L.E.E. joke. Everyone's doing fine considering the influenza thread that seems to be attacking everyone but me. Thank you, immune system, keep up the good work.

I wince as Denise stretches her voice to the limit. She's really sick, and she's already ensured I play February for the rest of the week.

At the end of the night, I'm waiting just off the stage with a blanket and a large tea from Wawa. It's not exactly Starbucks, but seeing as how I'm not supposed to leave the theatre, even running next door was a stretch.

Denise hurries off stage, her face dropping out of the smile. "Thank you." She croaks as I hand her the blanket and tea.

"Shhh. No more talking. Don't hurt your voice any further." Is my answer.

She smiles at me gratuitously.

I hurry out the door with Denise, aiming for the hummer. JoMo is already waiting in it to drive her home.

Suddenly, a group of sixteen-year-olds surround us:

"Denise, you were amazing!"

"So funny!"

"Amazing!"

"Guys, she's sick, we've gotta go." I tell them.

Everyone immediately takes multiple steps back, not wanting to get sick, except for one girl with kinda black-purple hair. It looks really cool.

"Hey, so, Denise, you're awesome and when I heard you were sick I ran out to get these." She holds up a bouquet of lilacs. "I hope you feel better."

"Thank you." Denise croaks again, breaking her silence.

I push Denise gently in the direction of the car and she immediately gets in, cradling the lilacs.

"What's your name?" I ask her.

"Chastity." She laughs, looking down at her shoes. Another girl with dirty, silver-blonde hair runs up and Chastity puts her arm around her. "This is Elise. I know Chastity doesn't exactly fit, but technically, I've never had a guy's dick up my pussy."

Everyone laughs, but I don't get it until Elise leans in and kisses Chastity. I immediately break into a smile; this is exactly what the world needs more of.

Chastity looks at me again, daring me to look uncomfortable or disgusted, but I don't. I just smile. She seems to think for a minute and then smiles back.

"So…I totally want to hang out, but I've got to go take care of Denise. Hopefully I'll see you around."

"Hopefully." Smiles Chastity.

I turn around and walk over to the car and climb in, grabbing a hold of Denise because she's not feeling well. When we arrive back at the Manor, I take care of her until Joey offers to take my place by her bed side.

I lie in bed for a long time, thinking quietly about Chastity and Elise.

I hope I can find that.

I hope Darren might learn to love me.

I love Darren.

I hope the world finds its missing puzzle piece.

I hear someone outside my door, and I want to answer, I really do, but I'm asleep…but not before I can add Chastity to my list of things to remember for the rest of my forever.

The rest of the week flies by. I don't see Darren as much as I'd like, but with rehearsals and actual shows, I'm spending more time on stage than off. I feel bad for Erin, who's trying to move in amidst the chaos. It must take her a full week to get everything sorted out instead of the one day it took me.

I play February for the two remaining weeks the show runs. The night of the last show, of _course_, Joey wakes up with a fever and no voice.

We're convinced that we're going to have to cancel the show seeing as how this is Starkid and we don't have a general guy understudy. Finally we tell Darren that we have to cancel the show. His response? "Well, I could do it…"

Everyone stares at him silently for a few moments until Lauren has the good sense to drag him downstairs to the empty basement and teach him the lines and blocking.

I don't see him again until he runs onstage two seconds before curtain.

And so it begins.

Darren does spectacularly. I walk onstage, monologue goes well, and everything else. Joe's G.L.E.E. joke is performed with all of us nodding at one another and Darren looking out at the audience, that confused look he has on his face. It slays.

And we slowly creep towards the end of our show.

"Guys, I'm stuck." I laugh, holding the Bug puppet's arms around me as we finish up. "He's got me! Not leaving this one! I love you, Bug." I say, but I look at Darren instead of the puppet.

I don't know what takes over me, all I know is that it's powerful. I lean in and, instead of kissing Bug, I kiss Darren.

He freezes for a moment, scaring the shit out of me, and then he's kissing me back – passion, love, wonder…all the feelings I've been longing to show I tell him now.

"Oh, I love you so much." I still deliver the line, but quickly move back to kissing Darren.

After a moment, Dylan clears his throat.

We break apart and I look into his eyes for a moment before turning back to face Dylan and Meredith.

They get married and we sing the final song. All I want to do is stand beside Darren.

Before we turn the lights back on and allow the audience out, though, I whisper my plan to AJ and the musicians, they love it, and they strike the first chord.

From offstage with my microphone, I start singing Granger Danger, Ron's verse, stepping onstage halfway. Lauren, Dylan, and Jim, somehow understanding my plan, push the idiot-named-Darren on stage as I reach the chorus:

"I'm falling in love, falling in love, falling in love…"

He's looking around, totally confused.

"I'm falling in love, falling in love, falling in love…with a Starship Ranger…"

His eyes grow wide with sudden comprehension.

"With a Starship Ranger…with a Starship Ranger…danger!"

To end the final note, I pull Darren up down to me by his shirt and kiss him with every ounce of emotion in my body.

He kisses me back, making me smile into him.

"I love you." I whisper.

"I love you, too." He whispers, the both of us forgetting that our mics are on, something we're reminded of by the following cheering of the crowd.

We're ushered out of the auditorium and into the foyer (for dead God's sake, people, it's pronounced foy-ᾱ) to sign autographs. Darren and I are, of course, separated very nearly immediately.

We sign autographs and talk to people for a long time. The most interesting part of the autograph session is definitely when a fanboy gets down on one knee and proposes to me with a ring-pop, an offer I awkwardly refuse.

He just grins at me.

Finally I find myself standing next to Darren and a girl of about eleven standing in front of me.

"So…are you two going out?" She asks boldly.

I look at Darren and raise my eyebrows.

"Yes?" He says, more of a question.

"Always." I say, smiling up into his brown eyes,

He kisses me again, lightly this time, briefly, leaving my head spinning. I can feel that this, right here, this is the start of something beautiful, something life-changing.

"I love you." He whispers, holding me tight to his chest.

"I love you, too." I whisper back, taking in his beautiful scent, the scent I first smelled when I put on his clothes when he put me to bed in his room.

"Do you really?" He asks, sounding honestly surprised.

I smile and our eyes meet.

"Always."


End file.
